 The Pretoria Pit disaster was a mining accident on 21 December 1910, when an underground explosion occurred at the Hulton Bank Colliery No.3 Pit, known as the Pretoria Pit, in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, then in the historic county of Lancashire, in North West England.A total of 344 men lost their lives, including cornet players, trombone players and horn players from Wingates Band.